Locked On

Just as Wien had expected, the four Pseudo-Adjuchas who had entered the cave earlier had been unable to defy fate. After Jekain sealed off the space around them, Nel held them in place, and by the time Wien arrived, she had already killed a Low Rank Adjuchas on her own.

In the end, the four Pseudo-Adjuchas could not escape becoming rations for Wien and his three companions.

"My king, we've eliminated ten of Pairomon's Pseudo-Adjuchas subordinates. Based on our earlier intelligence, he shouldn't have many left at his command."

"Yeah, it's time to harvest them." Wien nodded.

"You all head back to camp first. I'll go scout things out alone. Once you're back, Jekain, mobilize more than half a dozen of your Pseudo-Adjuchas to raid the Gillian Level resources in Pairomon's territory. Use summoning as much as possible to draw the Gillians to a safe location near our territory.

"At the same time, have the remaining Pseudo-Adjuchas step up their cultivation of Gillians and lower Hollows with special abilities. We'll have new territory soon. Don't worry about wasting resources. Start developing them with everything we have, even if we use up every last resource."

"Yes, my king." Jekain accepted the order.

"Lord Wien, let me go with you." Nel volunteered.

"No. A few Pseudo-Adjuchas can't hold me, and my abilities are better suited to sneaking around alone." Wien considered it, but ultimately shook his head.

"Nel, go back with Jekain and the others and help direct the Gillians from Pairomon's territory into our area. Wait for my signal. When you see the Bala I fire, prepare to launch an all-out attack on this place."

"Yes, my lord. Please be careful." Nel nodded slightly. Only after Wien nodded and left did she turn and leave with Jekain and the others.

After leaving his team, Wien vanished into thin air. In the entire Forest of Menos, fewer than one Hollow in ten could now pull Wien out of Concealment. Even if they could, his spatial ability would still let him escape immediately.

Wien ventured alone into the core of Pairomon's territory. There still weren't many Gillians here. Perhaps Pairomon had used up a batch of resources in an active push to expand his territory?

Wien paid it no mind and went straight to the place with the most powerful Spiritual Pressure in the core area. That should be where Pairomon's territory was.

"Lord Pairomon, the Spiritual Pressure of everyone we sent out has vanished."

Several hours later, when Wien arrived, Pairomon was hearing this terrible news inside the Lord Circle.

"We've identified the source of the Spiritual Pressure. It was Yinfeng's."

"What about the other two extremely high Spiritual Pressures that suddenly appeared?"

"We can't be certain, but the feel of their Spiritual Pressure was very similar to that of Yinfeng's two Pseudo-Adjuchas subordinates, Ace Wien and Nelliel. They may well have been hiding their strength."

"In that case, judging by the level of Spiritual Power that suddenly erupted and their ability to conceal themselves, were they really the ones going around stirring up trouble and assassinating the other Pseudo-Adjuchas?" Pairomon narrowed his eyes beneath his mask.

"My lord, we've lost far too many Pseudo-Adjuchas Menos Grande. The only Pseudo-Adjuchas left are the six of us here."

"You mean..." Hearing the cautious suggestion from the sensory-type Hollow under his command, Pairomon's gaze turned somewhat hostile.

"I was thinking that, since we belong to the same faction, could we ask the other lords for help? Now that we've found and identified the culprits who started all this, shouldn't we join forces and eliminate them first?"

"My lord, I don't think we should," another subordinate said.

"Our faction and Gatemont's are now bitter enemies. If we claim we want to eliminate the culprits, I'm afraid the allied factions will grow suspicious.

"Besides, those two murderers are hiding right under Gatemont's nose, yet they remain safe and sound. Under those circumstances, we have no standing to make anyone believe us."

"Hmm..." Pairomon pondered for a long while. "Fine. Ask for help directly. Tell them Yinfeng's faction ambushed us and request assistance from the alliance. Ji'antelisi, take some people and handle this."

"Yes, Lord." The Hollow Beast called Ji'antelisi was the second Hollow to offer Pairomon advice. After receiving the order, he took another Pseudo-Adjuchas with him and headed straight for their faction's alliance headquarters.

"Something this good?" Wien tilted his head, grateful to Pairomon for serving them up to him. He used Void Flash and followed.

A few minutes later, a Pale Gold Spiritual Pressure surged up in the direction Ji'antelisi had taken. Immediately afterward, Pairomon could no longer sense the Spiritual Pressure of Ji'antelisi or the Pseudo-Adjuchas accompanying him.

"Ace Wien!"

Pairomon flew into a rage. He clearly knew who that Pale Gold Spiritual Pressure belonged to.

"After him! Kill that bastard!" Pairomon howled at the sky and pursued Wien with the few Pseudo-Adjuchas he had left.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Boom!

Two Pale Gold Balas flew into the sky and exploded in midair, forming Pale Gold fireworks.

"That's Lord Wien's signal." On the outskirts of the territory, Nel saw the Pale Gold flowers bloom in the sky and hurriedly called Jekain and the others over.

After several hours of preparation, the dozen-odd Adjuchas under Wien's command had used summoning at the same time, drawing half the Gillians in the neighboring territory toward Wien's territory. That round of summoning had brought in roughly three thousand Gillians.

"Lady Nel, are we launching the attack?"

"Yes. Leave a few Pseudo-Adjuchas who can't use Sonído to drive the Gillians along. Everyone else, follow me."

"Yes!"

The dozen-odd Pseudo-Adjuchas Menos Grande accepted the order and used Sonído at once, following Nel toward Wien.

As it happened, Wien's ability to conceal himself would have made killing Pairomon outright easy enough. But taking on Pairomon and his four subordinates—all five Pseudo-Adjuchas at once—would have been somewhat difficult for him.

After all, they were five Mid Rank Pseudo-Adjuchas. Even if he caught them completely off guard, he could barely manage to kill two in one go, and facing the rest head-on would be dangerous. He could certainly hold his own, but there was no telling whether he would be injured.

Fortunately, Wien had no intention of engaging them. After firing the signal, he entered Concealment.

A few minutes later, Pairomon arrived where Wien had just been. Looking around, he found two Pseudo-Adjuchas corpses whose masks were already gone.

"Damn it! Damn it!" Pairomon clenched his fists until his knuckles cracked.

"Gusutafu, can you lock onto him?!" Pairomon roared at a Mutant Hollow beside him.

"I'll try." The Mutant Hollow called Gusutafu's eyes glowed a deep blue. A mysterious wave of light drifted toward the place where Wien had just released his Spiritual Pressure.

Watching the Pseudo-Adjuchas's strange ability from a nearby tree, Wien's heart suddenly tightened. He immediately raised a hand and began gathering a Concealment Cero.

A moment later, a purple glow flared up, and the wave of light from before suddenly coalesced into Wien's figure. After a brief stillness, the purple figure flew toward Wien's location.

"Damn!"

Wien immediately fired the Cero, though it had yet to reach its maximum Spiritual Pressure. After firing, he darted backward.

Boom!!!

The Cero exploded near Gusutafu, but Pairomon blocked it with both arms. The Cero, which had not been fully charged, left only faint scorch marks on his arms and dealt no substantial damage.

Pairomon shook his thick arms and stared toward Wien. Though he could not see Wien himself, the purple Spiritual Pressure marking his position could not lie.

The purple glow had now settled on Wien, revealing a faint, otherwise invisible outline and exposing his figure to the Hollows.

"Kill him!" Pairomon slammed both arms into the ground, smashing a huge crater and fissure into it, then used the force of the blow to propel himself toward Wien.

"Tsk, tsk. I really didn't expect an ability like that." Seeing the five Hollow Beasts charge at him, Wien did not stay to fight. He used Sonído and fled into the distance.

His Void Flash and Sonído were far faster than those of the other Hollow Beasts, so Wien was confident they could not catch him.

"Harass him from range!"

Hum!!

No sooner had Pairomon spoken than two Ceros blasted toward Wien.

Sensing the Spiritual Pressure coming from behind, Wien stopped using Void Flash and darted to the side, evading the Ceros that would otherwise have hit him.

These Hollow Beasts were more intelligent than he had imagined. At the very least, Pairomon and his subordinates used harassment tactics well. Although the two Ceros missed, they succeeded in slowing Wien's escape, giving Pairomon hope of catching his enemy.

"Keep going!" With that, Pairomon extended a hand and fired an earthy yellow Cero at Wien. Unable to dodge in time, Wien could only raise his sword to block. The Rift-Splitting Greatsword cut through space, and the earthy yellow Cero shot into the spatial rift. Wien then swung the greatsword again, sending the Cero shooting past him into an open patch nearby, where it caused a massive explosion.

"Both spatial and invisibility abilities? Or did he use space to turn invisible?" Pairomon's expression grew more serious. In Hueco Mundo, at least in the outer region, spatial abilities were extremely rare and powerful. He had no choice but to treat the enemy before him with caution.

"Keep harassing him." After some thought, Pairomon decided to continue the pursuit. For now, Wien was the only one he could sense in the surrounding area.

The Balas fired into the sky earlier had not escaped Pairomon's notice. They were a signal, a signal calling for reinforcements. So Pairomon thought he only needed to kill Wien before help arrived. No one would be comfortable leaving someone so skilled at assassination alive.

At Pairomon's command, his four Pseudo-Adjuchas subordinates unleashed Ceros and Balas at the same time, indirectly blocking Wien's escape route.

"Coward, is running away like a bug all you know how to do?" Behind Wien, Pairomon fired Balas while taunting him. "A Hollow Beast like you can only grow stronger through sneak attacks. I really don't know how blind Gatemont had to be to let you stay under his command. Oh, right, you're one of Yinfeng's people. Heh, that bastard's ability is the same. No wonder you bugs are on the same side."

"As expected of a lord, his intelligence and command are both strong, and he knows how to taunt and provoke. He's a lot better than those good-for-nothings from the Northern Forest." As Wien dodged the attacks, he did not forget to analyze his enemies.

Perhaps because most of the Hollow Beasts in the Central Forest were humanoid, their combat intelligence was considerably higher than that of the bugs in the Northern Forest.

Because their territories were separated, Wien did not know the abilities of all the Hollow Beasts under Pairomon. He only knew a little more about Pairomon himself.

"But getting chased and beaten up like this is really pissing me off!" Wien sounded relaxed, but the endless harassment had stoked his anger.

From what Wien himself could sense, even though the other four subordinates were also Mid Rank and had unique abilities, the refinement of their Spiritual Pressure could not compare to his. So for Wien, this was not a battle he couldn't fight!